Speaking in an emotional interview with television show Entertainment Tonight – just weeks after his wife’s death – Duane Chapman said he’s ready to join his late spouse whenever the time comes.

The reality star’s wife Beth was very open about her Christian faith and described her years-long battle with cancer, which ultimately ended her life, as the “ultimate test of faith”.

Chapman said his wife’s death helped him decide how he would want to die. He said he wanted the last words he hears to be those of Genesis 1:1, which reads: “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

“Psychiatrists say, and the Bible says it, too, ‘time heals wounds’.

“After I’ve seen how she went slow, I said, ‘Lord, I’ve figured it out – I want to go fast, but you got to let someone at least read Genesis 1:1 to me’.

“All my staff has been advised, if something happens to me, I want to hear Genesis 1:1, so that I know that means to say, ‘Lord forgive me.'”

Chapman also revealed to the interviewer Kevin Frazier that he often puts pillows under the blankets next to him so that, if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he forgets his wife is no longer with him.

Commending his wife’s faith, Chapman said she often quoted Proverbs 18:21, which declares: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

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The Wild Goose Sangha group host weekly sessions of three 25 minute sections of sitting meditaiton (or Zazen), interspersed with five minutes of walking and occasional one-to-one talking sessions. 

The sessions were run by Canon Chris Collingwood, an Anglican priest who is also a zen teacher and referred to as the Sensei within the meditation sessions.

According to the Guardian, the sessions have now been cancelled after the Rt Rev Dr Jonathan Frost, the dean of York Minster, is thought to have ended York Minster’s association with the group.

Concerns were also raised three years ago about the compatibility of zen – and its links to Buddhism – and Christianity. 

Canon Chris Collingwood’s profile on the zen group’s website says that the priest was first introduced to the practice of Zen by another Anglican priest who was a member of the Oxford Zen Centre.

He received the qualification of a lay Buddhist practitioner of Jukai in October 2015. 

In July 2016, he was given the name Ryushin (Dragon Heart) and has written the book ‘Zen Wisdom For Christians’. 

St Mary’s University in London has awarded Sister Berchmans the Benedict Medal in recognition of a lifetime of teaching and promoting interfaith relations in Pakistan at a ceremony in Westminster Cathedral today.

The medal, which is the Catholic University’s highest honour, will be presented to Sr Berchmans by the Archbishop of Westminster and Chancellor of St Mary’s University, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, during a St Mary’s Summer Graduation Ceremony.

Sr Berchmans was born in Country Clare, Ireland, in 1930 and joined the Convent of Jesus and Mary in 1951 in Willesden, London. She spent almost 70 years teaching, mostly in Pakistan, where she taught Muslim, Christian, Parsi and Hindu children at the Convents of Jesus and Mary in Lahore, Murree and Karachi.

In 2012, whilst she was Principal of the Convent of Jesus and Mary in Karachi, Sr Berchmans was awarded the Sitara-i-Quaid-i-Azam, one of the highest civil awards given by the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The award was given for her “constant adherence to the call of duty over a span of 59 years, which has made Sister Berchmans a living example to emulate.”

During her teaching career, Sr Berchmans taught and inspired thousands of students, amongst whom are the late Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto, and renowned MIT Astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala who made…

The US singer and actress’ song Spirit features in Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King. The multi Grammy award winning star has voiced for the character of Nala in the film, premiered the video on US TV.

She told ABC News’s Robin Roberts the concept of the video is “to show how God is the painter and natural beauty in nature needs no art direction”.

“It’s the beauty of colour, the beauty of melanin, the beauty of tradition,” she added.

The video is interspersed with clips from The Lion King and features her seven-year-old daughter, Blue Ivy.

 

Spirit is part of Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album, an accompaniment to the film. The album also features her husband Jay-Z.

Beyoncé described the soundtrack as a “love letter to Africa”.

She explained: “I wanted to make sure we found the best talent from Africa, and not just use some of the sounds and did my interpretation of it.

“I wanted it to be authentic to what is beautiful about the music in Africa.”

The Lion King: The Gift will be released on 19^th July, at the same time the film arrives in cinemas.

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